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The scientists who discovered ribosome structure.
Ada E. Yonath is a crystallographer, born in
Israel in 1939.
Despite being very poor, her parents did everything possible to ensure that Ada received a
good academic education. She graduated in
chemistry from the University of Jerusalem,
and wrote her PhD on X-ray crystallography.
Crystallography is the process for determining
the structure of a molecule. Its an experimental
technique for the study and analysis of materials, based on the phenomenon of X-ray diffraction by solids in a crystalline state.
Yonath was interested in the ribosome, a
macromolecule composed primarily of proteins
and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Ribosomes are tiny
machines capable of building all the proteins
that the cell needs to live, from haemoglobin to
insulin. Through crystallography she unravelled
these tiny structures in the cytoplasm of every
living cell, creating the first crystals of the
ribosome.
She also studied the mode of action of antibiotics within the ribosome, and the way
in which the bacteria become resistant to them.
X-ray crystallography was rapidly adopted by
many laboratories around the world, since this
technique allows us to understand one of the
most urgent problems to be resolved by twenty-first century medicine: Antibiotic resistant
bacteria In fact, it is a technique that is used to
create more effective antibiotics.
In her research, she has examined over twenty
different antibiotics, exploring avenues for
discovering new antibiotics, and creating more
effective ways of healing certain diseases
For her studies on the structure and function of
the ribosome she was awarded the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry in 2009.
Ada E. Yonath is currently the director of The
Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center
for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of
the Weizmann Institute.